Dell currently
has one of the best price/quality rate for flat panel displays.
Occasionally you might find cheaper units than Dell Flat Panels (FPs).
But before you go and make that purchase, you should check whether the
quality is comparable. Most cheaper units do have lower quality; and
you certainly don't want that for your substantial investment. Only
buy a good product at a good price. In order to know how the Dell FPs
compare, please take a quick look to the following comparison page:
Dell Ultrasharp Flat Panel Comparison.

Dell FPs are very
aggressively priced. Dell wants high market share for its products so
it provides significant discounts on these Flat Panels. If you are new
to the world of Dell FPs, there are two different kind of Dell FPs
being sold on eBay. Both are actually the same product, but the
warranty on the items are very different. This difference should be
quite important for buyers, since major headaches and stress can come
out of it. Please take a few minutes to read the following information
to get full knowledge about Dell FPs.

The first common
Dell FPs you can easily find are those you see with a 1 year warranty.
Have you ever seen those? I bet you have. So what is the standard Dell
warranty on Flat Panels? It is actually three years. You can read the
information at
http://docs.us.dell.com/docs/monitors/2000fp/English/warranty.htm.
Then why do some sellers advertise Dell FPs with only a 1 year
warranty? There are two possible explanations. First, the seller just
wants to promise shorter warranty although the unit has longer
warranty. Such situation might be possible since some sellers might
not be available 2-3 years from the time of your purchase. You should
really check with the seller if you think he/she falls into this
category. Second, there are sellers selling monitors that were
originally purchased with a system. Do these monitors carry any
warranty? It might and it might not. Let me try to explain it with a
detailed example.

Let's say
SELLER-A purchased a complete system with a Dell FP from Dell.
Then SELLER-A sells the system to BUYER-B and the
monitor to BUYER-C. The warranty on the system normally would
be transferred to BUYER-B, since this is
allowed by Dell. BUYER-B would then be the new
registered owner of the system. And it is not just the system
alone; but all other peripherals originally purchased with it. You
have to understand that Dell only provides warranty on the system
and not each peripherals, especially when the peripherals were
purchased along a system. Thus, the monitor purchased by BUYER-C
would actually have the warranty under BUYER-B's name. What
happens when BUYER-C needs to get warranty support for the
monitor? Unfortunately there is no absolute answer. From my extensive
research on this, it seems that everything depends on your persistence
in getting support. But in most occasions, Dell would refuse to
provide warranty support. The best scenario is to have
BUYER-B's complete information when calling for support, after
BUYER-B associates BUYER-C's name with the system tag.
Without such arrangement it is almost impossible to get support.
Because even under the best scenario, Dell sometimes might still
require BUYER-B to start the support ticket. Consider yourself
having a major problem with your monitor and being told by Dell Tech
Support to contact the system owner to obtain any support. Then,
should you need a replacement, Dell might also ship the replacement
unit to the system owner, not you. Is it worth going through all
these hassle? That is a question you need to answer yourself.

The second type
of Dell FPs sold on eBay are those carrying the full 3-years warranty.
These monitors should be originally purchased from Dell Software &
Peripherals (S&P) department. Although there is no actual warranty
transfer process for Dell branded items, Dell does provide
warranty support even if the item is sold to another entity. What is
required to obtain warranty under such condition? The buyer/new owner
needs to have the original purchaser information (name/company name
and original order number). Whenever the new owner needs warranty
support, he/she can call Dell directly and answer all the questions
required to obtain support. There should be no problem getting support
from Dell that way.

So which type of
Dell FPs should you purchase? Personally I would go with the second
one, since it has full warranty. The only situation I might consider
buying the first type would be if I already own an existing Dell
system with warranty coverage longer than 1 year. Why would I want to
do that? There are two reasons. First, units with 1 year warranty are
usually cheaper. Dell usually provides bigger discount when you
purchase a monitor with a system. Bigger discount Dell gives to your
seller, bigger discount your seller would give. That is why those
units with 1 year warranty usually sell for less. Second reason is I
might be able to associate the new monitor with my existing Dell
system, hence taking the warranty from the system. That is the
standard procedure with all peripherals available from Dell S&P
department. I have not done this myself so I cannot ensure the result
of such arrangement. But I can say I am about 90% sure Dell would
allow it. You would only need to supply the serial number from the
monitor to be associated with your existing system tag. It is that
simple. Nevertheless, should you have an existing system with less
than 1 year warranty or have a non-Dell-branded system, then it is
better to purchase monitors with full 3 years warranty. I can assure
you the lack of headaches would be worth the slight price difference
you pay for the monitor. Keep in mind that this is a big investment,
since FPs usually cost anywhere between $300-$1,000+, which should
last you for a couple of years.

Price difference
between the two different monitors might lure you into purchasing the
cheaper one. I know everyone wants to get the best product for the
lowest price. But would it be cheaper for the long run?
The decision is yours to make. I hope this guide was easy to
understand, and extensive enough, to provide you with the answer to
most questions you have on Dell Flat Panel monitors. The information
provided above are based on the information I personally gathered
during the past year selling Dell monitors. Most of the information
came from dealing with Dell Customer Service in many different
departments. You can save yourself countless hours only to get to the
right information. If you have any question about anything contained
in this article or any other topic relating to Dell monitors please
feel free to contact me via
email. I thank you for reading this article.

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